English Program in Korea (EPIK)

I've worked with both EPIK and the private school system in Korea and, I have to say, EPIK wins hands down.

When you arrive in Korea for a private school, you're alone in a foreign country and probably starting teaching a day after you land. But EPIK has an orientation program that'll get you situated and allow you to meet hundreds of other teachers in your areas - a ready-made friendship and support group.

Once you're actually at your school, unfortunately this is the only thing you can't control - and people do have mixed experiences. But I think - compared to other people I know in Korea - I have had a 'bad' school this year and even so, I can't complain... Although I have to deal with a lot of school politics (and a rather rude Principle) - hence the bad school - EPIK is still a great job. The benefits, pay and hours you work are second to none, along with the holiday allowances of 2 weeks in summer and 2 weeks in winter. Right now, I'm writing this in October and I haven't worked a full quota of classes (that's 22 x 40 minutes a week) since June, thanks to school trips or competitions or various other events.

The ten day orientation is a great way to ease into Korean life and the perfect place to make some great friends who'll become your family for the next 12 months.

The whole experience can be really overwhelming at first, especially if you've never taught before, lived away from home before and have no familarity with the Korean language. We were lucky in that we were placed in a major city with a bunch of other English speaking teachers, so when things got us down (not too often but they did) we had people to share the experience with and who more than likely had encountered the same thing. We also had great co-teachers who spoke excellent English, lovely schools and a comfortable apartment.

Every EPIK experience is different. Your school, city, teaching hours, desk warming hours, apartment. It's all a game of chance really and it's important not to compare your experience with that of other people.

Some people love it and have been living in Korea for years. Some people hate it and leave within a month. As long as you keep an open mind, make an effort to learn some Korean and chalk everything down to life experience you'll have a great time and meet all kinds of people, some who'll become your friends for life.

I remember thinking that the EPIK application process was like a wild goose chase - multiple documents to mail in, never getting any answers, and finding out at the last minute whether or not I'd be going to Korea in a few weeks' time.

It turns out that the application process was actually a pretty good inkling of what it's like to live in Korea.When I first arrived,I had no idea what was going on. Teacher dinners, hikes, and school performances materialized out of nowhere. I just decided to say yes to everything and keep a very flexible schedule.

After 1 year in Korea, I have learned the ropes. It might seem daunting at first, but you will figure out what's going on. However, don't look to EPIK to answer all of your day to day questions. Outside of the initial comprehensive orientation, I have had very little contact with EPIK.

That's because you do most of your learning by living your specific situation. It's impossible to generalize everyone's experience, because each one is different.

I teach elementary school kids in Gangwon-do. I have a spacious apartment within walking distance of work. My teaching hours have ranged from 22-30 hours per week, and each class has approximately 30 kids.

Another EPIK teacher I know lives in a studio apartment, takes a 40 minute bus to her school, where she plans 17 different lessons a week and teaches an average of 12 students per class.

We live in the same town, but our experiences of Korea are dramatically different.

Teaching with the EPIK program is a great way to jump into a new culture, get out of your comfort zone, and learn a new skill set. It's rewarding, it's challenging, and it's worth it.

It's been 3 years now, and time does fly. There are ups (beautiful scenery, friendly people, rewarding students) and downs (last minute changes, mindless paper work, irritating co-workers) but it's a good job.

EPIK is a great program if you are new to travelling, or fresh out of college. BUT If you are an inexperienced teacher, make sure you put the effort into your job after you arrive at your school. The program offers some training but it's up to you to pick up the slack. It's a fast learning curve and if you can't keep up, your students and co-workers with see it.

EPIK has great resources, and co-ordinators that can help out with teaching or administrative problems. I would recommend the program to anyone that is eager to learn and ready to dive into the ESL world the Korean public schools have to offer.

Korea is a first stop for many ESL teachers, and why wouldn't it be? No TESL requirement, decent benefits, short term contracts. What they don't tell you is you are also signing on for a once in a lifetime opportunity to teach wonderful students, make great friends, eat some of the world's best food, and get a peak at a truly unique culture.

EPIK makes the transition an easy one with a fantastic orientation, fun events held for teachers throughout the year, and a good track record for making sure teachers get paid and are taken care of. With these things out of the way, all you need to worry about is finding the best place to eat live octopus and snap up some aju-ma photos.

Anyong!

I’m going to be quite honest here, and say when I applied for a teaching position in Korea, I actually thought Korea was a significantly underdeveloped country ......boy, did I get that wrong!!

From the first day that I arrived in Korea, to now my 14th month, Korea has been one heck of an adventure ....it’s been everything that I could never have imagined it to be.

My first ten days in Korea, were a total blur and i’m not just talking about the soju. I was surrounded by fellow nervous foreigners, living in dorms at Jeonju University, and trying to take in all the information being thrown at us at the orientation. I remember clearly one question going through my mind on a daily basis... “what the hell am I doing? Why have I just left a good job, friends and family to come teach children– something which I don’t really know much about.” This question was slowly answered over the following months....

After a four hour coach journey from Jeonju to Ulsan, the city which I would soon be referring to as home, I was met by my new co-teacher at the Office of Education - a very shy and quiet young lady. I thought I was nervous, but she was definitely more nervous and it was an awkward drive down to my little village, Eonyang (home :-) ).

Even though I was hot, sweaty, tired and nervous, I tried to make conversation with my new co-teacher, only for her to tell me, that she didn’t like teaching and didn’t like English. What more could I say to that? Alot...I just carried on babbling, asking questions, and thinking to myself, well if she already doesn’t like English and teaching then I can’t really do or say much that would upset her.

I would probably describe my first semester at school as being a mish-mash of emotions...I had a co-teacher who barely spoke / communicated, but expected me to have things done. But then, was a god send with regards to all things out of school (sorting out mobiles / internet / banking issues etc).

School was difficult. I had Grade 6’s who hated English, and was teaching after school classes on my own with no direction. The English textbook’s weren’t the best and I was having to sing and dance – which was quite amusing to my students. To be honest, I was totally lost!! But I thank those who created the legendary website, that is waygook.org – long live the administrators and those who contribute to this amazing website. If you need an answer to a question related to either teaching or Korea, your first port of call will always be this wonderful website.

Out of school, life could only be described as Assa!!! Weekends would come along and with it adventures of new places, new foods, new drinks, new people....everything NEW.

I live in a small village, called Eonyang – aka The Centre of the Universe (as my friends and I often like to refer to it as). It is the perfect location, close to Ulsan downtown, Busan (my next favourite city), Gyeongju and the KTX (Korea Train Express – i.e. Korea’s answer to high speed trains) station for Ulsan. In Eonyang, myself and my fellow waygookin’s (foreigners) – of which there are about 12 or so – we are the local, so-called “celebrities”. You find yourself frequenting certain restaurants / coffee shops / banks and supermarkets, and the staff familiarise themselves with you, and use your custom, as an opportunity for themselves to practice their English – once an English Teacher, your always an English Teacher – whether you are in school or out.

Korea is a country of pure beauty in so many forms. Physical beauty, spiritual beauty, cultural beauty...but like they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have always been quite open minded. Try everything once in life, if I like something, i’ll go back for more and if I don’t then at least I can say that i’ve tried it. And with that in mind, let me just say, that I have definitely come out of my comfort zones and have pushed myself to limits that I didn’t think I had in me.

Then came Christmas. This was by far the hardest thing I have had to deal with whilst being here. Christmas has always been one of my favourite times of the year, time to spend with your family and friends, to eat festive foods and listen to Christmas songs – and I won’t lie, it was hard. But with great friends I got through it. I put up a Christmas tree, played Christmas music and with friends attempted to make our own version of Christmas dinner, oh and not forgetting a dvd of Muppets Christmas Carol.

Soon after Christmas, came the so called dreaded Winter Camps. I had heard a lot about Winter Camps from other teachers and was preparing myself for the worst. But do you know what, I loved it. I had three weeks of fun, even though I was teaching 8 classes a day. Some days I would pinch myself, when I looked around and realised that I am getting paid to play with adorable little children, who want to learn English and who want to learn English from me. There would be days where we would have cooking days or sports day, and this still be considered as teaching.

Following Winter Camp, I had a few weeks for winter vacation, during which time I managed to visit parts of both Japan and Thailand. Allowing me to fulfil one of the main reasons, for me ever wanting to move to Korea, this being to travel.

Second semester, and two new co-teachers, who actually wanted to teach English. Along with the new co-teachers came an epiphany with regards to teaching and what I wanted to achieve. Having been able to spend the three weeks at a different school during Winter Camp, I started the new semester with a new teaching style, and this combined with my new co-teachers enthusiasm and wanting of great success, lead to a fairly successful second semester.

Outside of school, my thirst for adventure and all things new continued. During my first year in Korea I visited a whole host of places, including: The DMZ (The demilitarized zone); Paraeso Waterfalls; Boseong Tea Plantation; several Temples; three different theme parks (Everland / Lotte World / Woobang Land); to name but a few. My experimentation with both food and drink also carried on. Some hits and a lot of misses, but like I said, at least i’ve tried it. My culinary highs and lows have included: kimchi (fermented cabbage); fish stew; spicy octopus; green tea; green tea ice cream ; green tea noodles; Korean-Chinese (which is delicious by the way); black sausage; tofu (of various textures); rice cakes; black bean filling; bubble tea and a whole lot more.

Then came the question – “Would you like to re-new for another year?” It was then that I remembered the question that went through my head everyday when I first arrived in Korea – “what the hell am I doing? Why have I just left a good job, friends and family to come teach children.” Now, after a year, I have an answer: “I came to Korea to experience all things new and to find myself. You never really know yourself, until you take yourself out of your comfort zone and put yourself out there. For me, Korea has been an awakening, for the mind, body and soul. I have discovered so much about this wonderful country, about teaching and about myself. Don’t get me wrong, Korea and teaching isn’t always for everyone – but for those of you out there looking for an adventure and a new lease of life, this could be the golden ticket ” ....and so before I knew it, I was re-signing a new contract for a second year in Korea...and here I am, 14 months in and still loving it.

I'm currently teaching in Korea with my girlfriend, both with the EPIK program. And we absolutely love it. The perks are amazing (vacation, pay, travel, social, cultural), the people you meet are amazing, and the job is a LOT of fun. This has been our experience though, we have great co-teachers, great schools, great support, etc...Occasionally, but not often, you hear of other teachers having a difficult time at their school (lack of material, unsure of what to do, lack of support from co-teacher), but EPIK seems to handle these situations in a professional and diligent manner. When we applied we used a recruiting agency, but there is no need. We were not satisfied with this agency and had several problems. I would DEFINITELY recommend applying directly with EPIK.

I am currently starting my second year at a public middle school in Busan, South Korea and loving every minute of the time I spend with the teachers and my students.

I teach three grades -- first grade (13 year olds), second grade (14 year olds) and third grade (15 year olds). My largest classes are with the first grade students, averaging somewhere between 30-35 students a class. My second and third grade students are in what we call 'leveled' classes, meaning students are separated by their English level (high and medium to low). These classes tend to have somewhere between 20-25 students in each class.

In the public schools, foreign English teachers have Korean co-teachers with them in each class to assist with teaching, lesson planning, materials, and offer Korean translation if necessary. I have 7 amazing co-teachers that I work with throughout the day. This number varies by the size of your school and what level you teach (elementary, middle, or high school). I am lucky in that my co-teachers give me free reign of how I structure and teach my speaking class with the only exception of making sure to always incorporate their textbook into the lesson. So, I take the lesson for the day and structure my activities and games to fit with the key phrases in the book.

The structure of my classes look somewhat like this:

- Welcome, small talk, and warm-up

- Introduction of Lesson, key phrases

- Textbook dialogue CD (students follow along in their books), teachers then model the conversation again, students practice phrases and conversation with a partner.

- Practice, practice, practice! Students practice but this time using different types of conversations with the same key phrases. Usually, this is an active part of class. I do like using activities that move students around the class, always changing partners a few times, to keep them interested and having fun.

- Production activity. This lets me know students have practiced and understand the material. This is always an active part of class. I have a soft soccer ball I through around the class to have students stand up and practice or I play a game or sometimes both depending on the time.

- Calm down, review, and goodbyes!

One thing I've learned while teaching in my middle school is how important it is to smile and really be available for your students to talk to throughout the day. For my birthday last year, a student brought me a card she had made the night before (I later found out she was up at 3 AM doing it). But inside the card there was one thing she said that really stood out to me, "Teacher I like you very much. You always smile to us and you are always happy. That is why I like your class."

I genuinely love my job and my students. Teaching is always what you make it. Some day the students are bouncing off the walls and driving you crazy and other days they just won't talk! But a smile goes a long way with these students. If you show that you care just a little bit, they will often give you more joy than you could have ever imagined.